News

How does Australia's crime rate compare to other nations

By Greg Sherington

18 March 2014

Garner Clancey

Garner Clancey from the Sydney Institute of Criminology discusses Australia's crime rate and how it compares to other nations.

In an appearance on Channel Seven's The Daily Edition, he says despite significant falls in recent years in robberies, vehicle theft and burgalry, Australia still has stubbornly high rates of sexual assault and inter-personal violence.

"Compared to other countries we fare quite poorly on those measures," he says.

"However, reporting levels of sexual assault and inter-personal violence are very tricky to compare across countries.

"When you look at the Scandanavian and Nordic countries, you can see that there is very high investment in education and strong social supports.

"They perform very well on measures of social cohesion and social capital, which suggests that people feel quite bonded in those countries and feel quite close to eachother."